The immediate event that triggered the war happened far away in Ijawland, in a little town called Agberi (or Agbela, as Awka called it) near Brass. The year was 1899 or 1900. Okeke Egbe, a doctor from the Amikwo Quarter of Awka, was treating a sick Ijaw woman. Unfortunately, the sick woman died. The doctor fled Agberi and returned to Awka. Angry, the Ijaw people attacked the Awka smiths in their midst and drove them away. Most of these smiths were from Ụmụanaga and Ụmụọgbụ wards of Agụlụ Quarter in Awka. Now, there had been an intense rivalry between the doctors of Amikwo Quarter (where the doctor Okeke Egbe came from) and the smiths of Agụlụ Quarter. Agụlụ smiths asserted that the Niger Delta was their ‘field of operation’, and that the presence of Amikwo doctors in the Niger Delta was ‘spoiling their business’. They now demanded that Amikwo men must cease travelling to the Niger Delta, or anywhere where Agụlụ smiths operated. This was totally unacceptable to Amikwo – their economic well-being had come to depend on doing business in the Niger Delta. In November, 1901, war broke out between the two quarters – the Amikwo-Agụlụ Civil War.
At first, Agụlụ boasted that they would defeat Amikwo in ‘one evening’, but after they were soundly beaten by the Amikwo men at the Battle of Okokwu in 1902, Agụlụ began to search for foreign allies and mercenary soldiers.
Agụlụ formed an alliance with the warriors of Ukpor, a town near Nnewi. The men of Ukpor were brave fighters, renowned for carrying huge shields that protected them from head to foot. But they had one characteristic: they never ate cocoyam, and kept strictly away from it. The Amikwo men knew about this food taboo of the Ukpor people, and decided to use it to their advantage. On the field of battle, they fired at the Ukpor warriors with guns loaded with bullets wrapped in cocoyam skins. The Ukpor men broke rank and fled!
Next, Agụlụ sought to hire the feared Ada warriors of the Cross River area through the agency of Ndị-Ikeliọnwụ’s chief, Ike Okoli, son of Okoli Ijọma. The Amikwo forces heard of this plan, and their captain, Ezekwem, went in person to Ndị-Ikeliọnwụ and persuaded the Arọ chief to call off the mercenaries.
At first, Agụlụ boasted that they would defeat Amikwo in ‘one evening’, but after they were soundly beaten by the Amikwo men at the Battle of Okokwu in 1902, Agụlụ began to search for foreign allies and mercenary soldiers.
Agụlụ formed an alliance with the warriors of Ukpor, a town near Nnewi. The men of Ukpor were brave fighters, renowned for carrying huge shields that protected them from head to foot. But they had one characteristic: they never ate cocoyam, and kept strictly away from it. The Amikwo men knew about this food taboo of the Ukpor people, and decided to use it to their advantage. On the field of battle, they fired at the Ukpor warriors with guns loaded with bullets wrapped in cocoyam skins. The Ukpor men broke rank and fled!
Next, Agụlụ sought to hire the feared Ada warriors of the Cross River area through the agency of Ndị-Ikeliọnwụ’s chief, Ike Okoli, son of Okoli Ijọma. The Amikwo forces heard of this plan, and their captain, Ezekwem, went in person to Ndị-Ikeliọnwụ and persuaded the Arọ chief to call off the mercenaries.
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